For the Chief Musician. To the tune of āLilies.ā By David.
1Ā Save me, God,
for the waters have come up to my neck!
2Ā I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold.
I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.
3Ā I am weary with my crying.
My throat is dry.
My eyes fail looking for my God.
4Ā Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head.
Those who want to cut me off, being my enemies wrongfully, are mighty.
I have to restore what I didnāt take away.
5Ā God, you know my foolishness.
My sins arenāt hidden from you.
6Ā Donāt let those who wait for you be shamed through me, Lord Yahweh of Armies.
Donāt let those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, God of Israel.
7Ā Because for your sake, I have borne reproach.
Shame has covered my face.
8Ā I have become a stranger to my brothers,
an alien to my motherās children.
9Ā For the zeal of your house consumes me.
The reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
10Ā When I wept and I fasted,
that was to my reproach.
11Ā When I made sackcloth my clothing,
I became a byword to them.
12Ā Those who sit in the gate talk about me.
I am the song of the drunkards.
13Ā But as for me, my prayer is to you, Yahweh, in an acceptable time.
God, in the abundance of your loving kindness, answer me in the truth of your salvation.
14Ā Deliver me out of the mire, and donāt let me sink.
Let me be delivered from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters.
15Ā Donāt let the flood waters overwhelm me,
neither let the deep swallow me up.
Donāt let the pit shut its mouth on me.
16Ā Answer me, Yahweh, for your loving kindness is good.
According to the multitude of your tender mercies, turn to me.
17Ā Donāt hide your face from your servant,
for I am in distress.
Answer me speedily!
18Ā Draw near to my soul and redeem it.
Ransom me because of my enemies.
19Ā You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor.
My adversaries are all before you.
20Ā Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness.
I looked for some to take pity, but there was none;
for comforters, but I found none.
21Ā They also gave me poison for my food.
In my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink.
22Ā Let their table before them become a snare.
May it become a retribution and a trap.
23Ā Let their eyes be darkened, so that they canāt see.
Let their backs be continually bent.
24Ā Pour out your indignation on them.
Let the fierceness of your anger overtake them.
25Ā Let their habitation be desolate.
Let no one dwell in their tents.
26Ā For they persecute him whom you have wounded.
They tell of the sorrow of those whom you have hurt.
27Ā Charge them with crime upon crime.
Donāt let them come into your righteousness.
28Ā Let them be blotted out of the book of life,
and not be written with the righteous.
29Ā But I am in pain and distress.
Let your salvation, God, protect me.
30Ā I will praise the name of God with a song,
and will magnify him with thanksgiving.
31Ā It will please Yahweh better than an ox,
or a bull that has horns and hoofs.
32Ā The humble have seen it, and are glad.
You who seek after God, let your heart live.
33Ā For Yahweh hears the needy,
and doesnāt despise his captive people.
34Ā Let heaven and earth praise him;
the seas, and everything that moves therein!
35Ā For God will save Zion, and build the cities of Judah.
They shall settle there, and own it.
36Ā The children also of his servants shall inherit it.
Those who love his name shall dwell therein.